Correspondence
by tiny-turtle-7
Summary: The first letter had come seven long months after Tony had left for Israel with Tali. It had appeared on Gibbs' doorstep after a long case one day, as if the USPS had known what Gibbs needed. He grabbed a beer and sat down at the table with the first sheet of paper. AU after 13x24 "Family First." Rated T for language only.
1. Chapter 1

Correspondence

 **CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

 **The first letter** had come seven long months after Tony had left for Israel with Tali. It had appeared on Gibbs' doorstep after a long case one day, as if the USPS had known what Gibbs needed. He recognized it immediately. Tony's distinctive handwriting had scrawled Gibbs' address on it, words and characters flying everywhere.

The return address nearly brought tears to Gibbs' eyes.

It was written in his Ziver's neat handwriting. That printing that he had read all those years in the reports she had dropped on his desk. How could he forget it?

It meant that Tony had obeyed Gibbs' final order: "Bring her home, DiNozzo." Gibbs had told him that at the airport, after Tony had laid out the facts that he had found, that Ziva had left a trail for him to follow, that there was _no way_ she could have been as careless as to die in something as trivial as a fire, especially not with Tali to worry about.

He picked it up off the doorstep. Setting his bag and coat down in the chair, he ripped it open. Two pieces of paper tumbled out. He shook it upside down over the table, before pulling a piece of cardstock out.

It was a Christmas card. Gibbs checked the date on his watch: December 22, 2016. He laughed. Tony never would have sent it on time for it to get to Gibbs before Christmas. It had Ziva written all over it. When he flipped the card over, his grin threatened to split his face in two.

Tali sat on her daddy's shoulders, clapping her hands in the air with a smile on her face. Ziva was rolling her eyes and smirking at Tony, who had one hand on Ziva and the other holding Tali up, wearing his big old' genuine smile. Ziva appeared to be pregnant in the picture, although with his eyes he couldn't be sure. _If Kate had heard me admit that,_ he thought with a small smile.

The card went on his refrigerator where he would see it every day. There were others in the envelope, he had noticed, and each one had a name on it.

 _Abs_

 _McGoo_

 _Autopsy Gremlin_

 _Bishop_

 _Duck_

He grabbed a beer and sat down at the table with the first sheet of paper.

Ziver's.

* * *

 _Gibbs—_

 _Let me start by saying how sorry I am for making you all worry like that. It was never my intention to do so. However, there were people that I needed to… take care of first. And Tali._

 _Your Rule Twelve: Never date a coworker._

 _I broke it, and I am sorry._

 _Tony has attempted, several times (regrettably) to impress on me the fact that I had no intention of breaking Rule Twelve and that I actually did not break the rule._

 _He reminds me of you, Gibbs, as much as you may want to deny it. I can see it in his eyes, the way he would do anything for Tali. I saw that in your own eyes, when you would look at Abby. And I think that perhaps you may have once been that way with Kelly, yes?_

Kelly.

Oh, Kelly. His girl. He thought of her every day. He'd wake up sometimes, thinking maybe it had been a bad dream, and then he'd realize, and it'd hit him again.

His girls were gone.

 _And I do not want to remind you of that. Because I know that Kelly and Shannon were your everything._

 _Tali and I, we are Tony's everything._

"I'm that little girl's everything. And I've never been anyone's everything before."

 _He chased me across Israel and through Paris, with Tali no less. He found me by pure luck, as laughable as it may seem. I was in the market one day when I heard his voice._

" _Yeah, Tali, that's your Ima." And I knew immediately that that was Tony, for no one else had a daughter named Tali who knew Hebrew for mother. We turned around at the same time, and there he was. He almost dropped Tali, the big_ _gook_ _goof. It was Tali really; she threw herself out of Tony's arms and was halfway to me before he realized what had happened._

Gibbs smiled. That sounded like a DiNozzo. And the Ziva-ism. God, he had missed having those around the office.

 _So then I took him home to my apartment, and he was nearly crying, but "DiNozzo's don't cry," so he didn't cry. He just sat there staring at me (I let him. Crazy, right?) and bouncing Tali up and down on his knee. The "horsey" game, I believe it's called. Then he handed me Tali, and it was my turn to cry. All my Mossad training went out the_ _closet_ _window and I cried._

 _She had grown up so much, Gibbs. It had been nearly a year since I had seen her and she was so, so big. She kept saying, "Ima, Ima, Ima," and patting my face no matter how many times Tony would say, "Tali, don't do that to your Ima."_

 _He is a good father._

 _I can honestly say I did not really expect him to be a good father,_

Gibbs laughed outright at that. He hadn't expected DiNozzo to be much of a parent either, his player ways getting in the way, but DiNozzo seemed to be determined to be everything his father wasn't.

 _but he has exceeded my expectations. He loves Tali so much, as I probably have already mentioned. He has not gotten her hooked on movies completely, but she does know Magnum's red Ferrari like it's her own Abba's car. I suppose I can't fault him for that. Washington to Israel is a long flight and there is only so much one can do to entertain a wiggly three-year-old for that long._

 _I want you to tell Abby and Tim and the Director that I am still alive. Please don't let Abby completely freak out; she can-and will-kill me "without leaving any forensic evidence." I hope McGee will understand. I hope everyone will understand although I know it will be hard._

 _I have hurt so many people, Gibbs. I want to make up for it._

 _I am going to break Rule Six._

 _I'm sorry._

 _I really am._

 _I do not know when Tony and Tali and I will be back. Tony wants us to wait for the baby_

Ha! They were having a baby. Take that, Kate!

 _so not for another six months at the minimum._

 _I hope you will find it in you to forgive me._

 _Thank you so much, Gibbs._

 _I will see you soon._

 _Love,_

 _Ziva David_

Gibbs put the letter down and sighed, running a hand through his hair. He had been so worried for so long and for what? He didn't quite know. But his Ziver was alive, and right now, that was all that mattered. He felt as though a huge weight, a weight he had hardly noticed was there, had been lifted off his chest. She was alive and she would (hopefully) be coming home. With DiNozzo, no less.

His kids would be coming home. Even after all those years, it still somehow surprised him when he consciously thought of Tony and Ziva as his kids. Abby, he had known for years that she was one of his, even if not related by blood.

Abby.

God, she had been so worried. Every night after they had learned that Ziva was "dead," after Tony had left NCIS on his wild goose chase, as Abs termed it, she had been at his house, in the basement, with the boat.

They had named the boat _Ziva._

He looked at the card again. It was the perfect image of a happy family. The only two he would even _think_ of letting break Rule 12.

He had had this once with Shannon and Kelly.

Rule 5: You don't waste good.

Ziva and Tony were good.

Rule 12 didn't matter with them.

He got up, put his beer in the recycling bin Abby had stuck in his kitchen. Came back to the table and picked up the second sheet of paper.

* * *

 _Hey Boss, it's DiNozzo._

 _You're probably shocked that I sat down and wrote something that you could read, well Ziva actually made me rewrite this a few times because she said if she couldn't read it then Gibbs definitely couldn't._

 _Anyway._

 _How's Abby? I really, really, really miss her. You can tell her that, by the way. Make sure you put three reallys in there. She'll know what I mean._

 _I've had a lot of time to think about things – three year olds sleep the sleep of the dead once they ACTUALLY FREAKING SLEEP! So it's just been me and Ziva, which isn't really all that bad._

 _Except she still has that idiom problem. But it's better now. She says she has to be better because she doesn't want Tali learning the wrong things. I asked her if maybe it wasn't a little too late for that and get this – she head-slapped me! Apparently she does it now too!_

Gibbs could **hear** Tony through the paper as if he was talking right in Gibbs' ear. "Spent too much time with you, DiNozzo," he laughed.

 _Anyway, it's been nice here in Paris. She's got a pretty little apartment right on the corner of a street near a park and I've been teaching Tali to throw and catch. Never too early to start, right? She's pretty good at it, too. Got those Anthony DiNozzo, Jr athletic genes._

 _I've talked to Senior too. Wasn't too pleased how I just ran off but happy that I've got a nice family now. Also, I heard he's given off my apartment to Elf Lord? What's that all about? Hopefully he'll give it back._

 _Ziva and I are thinking we'll be back maybe next August or September, after she finishes hatching L.J._

 _Oops._

 _I wasn't supposed to let that one slip out._

 _She's having a boy._

 _We're naming him after you._

"Jesus Christ, DiNutso," Gibbs said, using Fornell's nickname for his former Senior Field Agent.

Tony was naming his kid after Gibbs? The second-b-for-bastard Gibbs?

 _I know you're probably thinking you'd really like to head-slap me right now, but it felt right to do that. You've given both of us more than we deserved so many times over. And it never felt right for me to name L.J. after me right now. Maybe later we'll have a Tony DiNozzo the third; but not right now._

 _I don't have that much more to say, boss._

 _I just got one question._

 _Say I do come back to NCIS._

 _Is there a spot waiting for me back on Team Gibbs?_

 _Please tell me there is, boss. I miss it so much._

 _From,_

 _Tony DiNozzo_

"Aw, hell, DiNozzo," Gibbs moaned.

He climbed down the stair to the basement, poured himself some bourbon, and started sanding _Ziva._

Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David were naming their kid after him.

Leroy Jethro… DiNozzo? It seemed to fit. They seemed to be calling him L.J. in the letters. It reminded him of Stillwater, and L.J. Moore, the man Gibbs himself was named after. Still sanding, Gibbs let the thoughts whirl in his mind for a while. August or September, Tony had said. That was eight or nine months away, far from the six-month estimate Ziva had given.

Eight or nine months, and McGee would be married.

Eight or nine months, and Abby would still be missing Tony.

Eight or nine months, and Chen could still be out there.

Eight or nine months.

Would there be a spot on the MCRT?

And who would he let go?

Torres? Nah. Too good undercover.

Reeves? Maybe. He was a good man though, and he had his merits.

Quinn? Now there was a definite possibility. Quinn was even reluctant to be a field agent, let alone on the MCRT.

Ellie? Gibbs figured he wouldn't. She was still reeling from Qasim's death at the hands of Chen, and although she had promised Gibbs she had let Chen go, Gibbs knew how hard it was to do that. He had his own demons from his girls' deaths and killing Pedro Hernandez in cold blood. He _knew_ that there was no way Ellie could have moved on that quickly.

McGee? NO. "Very Special Agent" Timothy McGee had proved himself over and over again as an agent in his own right in the wake of Tony's departure and Ziva's "death." McGee he couldn't let go. He was just too important to Gibbs and Abby, too. McGee was far removed from the Elf Lord and super-glued keyboards days. He was just as capable of a Senior Field Agent as Tony had been.

If he had to pick, it would be Quinn that he would let go. He felt bad for even thinking that, but he knew in his heart that it was the truth.

He put down the sander and began to walk up the steps.

Eight or nine months.

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs could wait eight or nine months.

* * *

 **Hey! Please review if you liked it or if there's anything you think I could improve. Your feedback means so much to me! I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up. I'll try to make it before the end of the month.**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

 **Gibbs strides purposefully** into Abby's lab, nearly spilling his coffee when she slams into him and gives him one of her patented Abby-Hugs. He grins.

"That's a nice picture, Abs," he says, motioning to the one she has of Tony and Tali taped to Major Mass Spec's glowing screen, "but I got a better one for you." And he drops the Christmas card onto her desk and watches her eyes grow into saucers before she curses.

"We thought she was _dead!_ " Abby shouts. "How could she _do_ that to us? To _Tony!_ He _loved_ her! How could she _do_ that?"

"She was trying to protect her daughter," he answers. "Tali. She was trying to protect Tali. Her family."

"But she hurt _Tony!_ No one's allowed to hurt Tony!"

"I know, Abs," he says. "I know."

She sinks back into her rolly chair and spins around some. "I can't believe she's alive! How did you get these?"

"She sent me a letter. Tony, too."

"Snail mail? Gibbs, you have _got_ to catch up with the modern world."

"I have email. That alone makes me want to destroy my computer."

"Not enough, Bossman. Not nearly enough. And Timmy would be pretty annoyed if you shot your computer again. Remember how long it took him to fix it last time?"

He grins, shakes his head. "Nothin's enough for you, Abs. 'Sides, it only took three weeks. Whatcha got on Stiller?"

"He's got an alibi. We've got bedsheet fibers matching the fibers on his jacket, backing up his claim that he was um,-"

"Yeah, Abs, I get the idea," he grumbles.

"Hope it was fun," she smirks. "Because if he did kill our commander, then he won't be having any of that for a _long_ time."

He laughs despite himself. Kisses her cheek. Drops her Caf-Pow on her desk. "That's good work, Abs."

She hugs him again, lets him go, signs _Thank you_ to him. "Bye! And say hi to Ziva for me, please?"

"Sure, Abby. Anything you want."

"Of course, Bossman. Oh, and Ducky mentioned something about needing to see you when he popped in this morning."

"Okay, thanks."

* * *

"Duck? You wanted to see me?"

Ducky exits his office, rubbing his hands off on his towel. "Yes, Jethro, young Timothy was down here just, oh, three minutes ago, going on about Ziva being alive? I did not get a chance to ask him any questions before he flew off to Abby. I presume you've already been to see her?"

He smiles again, for what, the fifth time that day? _Need to stop doing that,_ he thinks to himself. "Yeah. She got a match on the fibers that came off of Stiller's jacket. And on the topic of Ziva—"

He gives Ducky the card.

"Oh, my. Yes, that would be our Ziva, wouldn't it? This is quite a pleasant shock. I must say, Jethro, I was not expecting this. However, young Anthony has never failed you yet, and I daresay he will never."

Gibbs rolls his eyes. "Well, when Palmer gets into work, there's one for him, too. You find anything else in the autopsy?"

"Jethro, I thought you'd never ask. Commander Sweet here was experiencing _unusually_ high levels of serotonin when he passed. In most circumstances, this would be considered a normal indicator of a tramautic brain injury, but as there was no blunt force trauma to the head, I am at a loss for what this might mean. You know, this reminds me of a case I once oversaw in Venezuela, where a…"

"Got it, Duck. Thanks." Gibbs exits the door, narrowly avoiding Palmer as he rushes into Autopsy. "Slow down, Palmer!"

"I'm so sorry, Agent Gibbs, but Breena was having a difficult morning getting Tori off to school and, well,"

"Palmer."

"Sorry, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs rolls his eyes (again).

* * *

"Ellie's sick, boss," McGee says when he walks back into the bullpen. The team looks to be relatively engaged in their routine activities.

McGee is currently hacking into Mac Stiller's flash drive, looking for information related to the murder of a Navy commander in Rock Creek Park.

Reeves is tapping his pen on the file of their latest case, mumbling to himself.

Quinn is cursing and banging at her computer. "Stupid thing froze," she mumbles.

Torres is wheedling with one of the agents in the Eastern Europe department. Something about hamburgers and Yes, I did pay you back for the fries, Jared!

"Okay," Gibbs says, sliding back into his chair and turning on his computer. "McGee, where'd my coffee go?"

"You drank it, boss," McGee says apologetically. "Remember right after you went to Abby?"

"Damn it, Elf Lord," Gibbs groans, more to himself than actually to McGee.

"Sorry, boss," he replies. "You know, Abby's pretty pissed about the whole Ziva thing."

"I talked to her," Gibbs says.

"Oh, yeah. Anyway, she was going on about how Ziva hurt Tony and how no one can hurt Tony because it's _Tony._ I think it's gonna be like when right before you went to Mexico and Ziva and Abby were at each other's throats all the time. Not looking forward to that."

Gibbs grunts. "I guess. She told me the same thing."

" _Finally!"_ Quinn shouts.

Gibbs looks over and raises an eyebrow. "Quinn, if you break that thing, McGee's not gonna be able to fix it."

McGee winces. "Yeah, no. Already went through that with the boss. Not a pleasant activity."

"I know," Quinn smirks, "but, hey, I fixed my computer problem by myself."

"Quinn, banging and threatening to shoot your computer hardly counts as fixing it," McGee replies.

"Yeah, but it's fixed, isn't it?"

Gibbs sighs and returns to puzzling over the team's latest case. "McGee."

"Yes, boss?"

"Got anything off the flash drive?"

"Yeah, he was in contact with Commander Sweet before she was killed, but it was only a series of emails about an insurance claim, just like we originally thought."

"So basically we got nothing."

"It's looking that way, boss."

"Not for long," Reeves spoke up. "I was flipping through some old cases with Mac Stiller being mentioned, just like you wanted, Gibbs, and the pattern looks like Stiller is a fraud."

"And?"

"Well, back in 2015, he pretended to help out Army Lt. Jack Devin with an insurance claim when a tree fell on his car, but Lt. Devin reported a loss of nearly 5,000 dollars from his bank account after Stiller 'helped' Devin with the claim. And in 2014, Petty Officer Amy Johnson lost, once again, 5,000 dollars from her account after a claim filed with Stiller. Both Devin and Johnson were found dead the next week. FBI handled Devin's case, Michael Learty handled Johnson for NCIS."

"Thanks, Reeves. Is Learty still here?"

"He was transferred to San Diego in August 2016."

"Can we get an MTAC with him tomorrow? I need to have a little talk with Stiller."

"You got it, Gibbs," Reeves replies.

* * *

"Petty Officer Amy Johnson. Army Lieutenant Jack Devin. Both filed insurance claims with you. Both found dead the next week with 5,000 dollars out of their bank accounts." Gibbs said to Mac Stiller.

"Look, man, I don't know what you want me to say."

"Well, how about starting with saying that you killed Devin and Johnson."

"They shouldn't have looked into the money. I was just trying to help out my brother. He was going through a rough time."

"So you killed them?"

Stiller groans. "I don't know why I did it. I was just confused and I got scared."

"So you killed them."

"Yes, fine! I killed them!" He broke down crying then. "I was just trying to protect my brother!"

"Sign the confession. McGee!" Gibbs says.

McGee strides into the interrogation room and handcuffs the still-sobbing Stiller.

Gibbs sighs. _It's been a long day._

* * *

The rhythmic sound of the sander against the wood manages to soothe Gibbs' mind that night. Stiller went quieter than expected, signing a full confession after McGee handcuffed him. NCIS is still buzzing from the news that Ziva David is still alive. Gibbs had to firmly head-slap Torres after Torres commented on how pretty Ziva was.

" _She's got a family, Torres!"_

Gibbs is content to wait the eight or nine months. Content to wait until he can see Ziver again. See _Tony_ again. Meet their kids. Meet the boy his name was given to.

Gibbs is content for now. He can wait.

* * *

 **I didn't really like how the ending turned out. Please review and tell me what you thought! I'm so sorry for making y'all wait for almost a month for another chapter. Real life and finals totally caught up to me!**


	3. Chapter 3

CORRESPONDENCE

CHAPTER THREE

* * *

 _Paris, France_

"Daddy?" a little girl asks, climbing up into her father's lap. "What are you doing?"

Her father swings her all the way up into his lap. "I'm checking the time in Washington, D.C.," he answers.

"What's Wash-wash—"

"Washington," he answers patiently. "That's where I used to live."

The little girl gets excited now. "With Unca Tim and G'anpa, right, Daddy?"

"Yeah, Tali," Anthony DiNozzo says. "I lived with Uncle Tim, and Grandpa Gibbs, and Aunt Ellie, in Washington. And when your brother is born, we will go back to Washington, and you can see Uncle Tim and your cousins every day."

"Time?" Tali asks, tapping the computer screen.

"It's two o'clock in Washington, and here… It's. Tali's. Bedtime!" he shouts, picking up the girl and swinging her in the air.

"Daaddyy!" Tali squeals.

"You're going to whisk her up, Tony," his newly-found girlfriend says when she enters the room to see what the noise is about.

"Stir, Ninja," Tony replies, grinning. "I'm going to _stir_ her up. We're just havin' a little fun, Zi, relax! Trust me, I want this kid to sleep as much as you do. Say goodnight to Ima, Tali!"

"Night night, Ima, night night, baby!"

"Goodnight, Tali," says Ziva. She kisses her daughter on the top of her head and watches as her boyfriend carries their daughter to bed on his shoulders.

After twenty minutes and one very loud rendition of _Goodnight Moon,_ Tony re-enters the kitchen and slumps in a chair. "Hey, Zi, how long d'ya bet she'll sleep tonight?"

"She is getting better, Tony," Ziva responds, pulling the computer towards her. "Are you ready?"

A pause. "Yeah. Are you?"

Ziva swallows. "It is time. You texted McGee, yes?"

"Did it yesterday. He's ready. He brought everyone down to the lab and grabbed Palmer and Duck on the way. They're ready."

Ziva closes the window with "time in D.C." open and clicks open Skype. "You know his username?"

"Yeah." Tony pulls the computer towards him now, shakily two-finger types in TimMcGee21 into the box and hits "enter." A few minutes later, Tali's shouts burst the air and Tony curses violently. "I'll go get her real quick," he says, and sprints to Tali's room.

The computer, sounding like an airplane taking off, connects with TimMcGee21 in Washington, D.C., just as Tony slides back into his chair with Tali and her toy bunny.

Tim's grinning face appears first and slowly backs away to reveal the rest of the MCRT, standing dumbfounded in the lab. Abby breaks first.

"Holy shit," she says.

"Abby!" Tony yelps. "Baby on board!"

"Sorry, Tony, I couldn't help it. Jesus, Ziva, you—you— _Ziva!"_ she shouts.

Ziva grins. "Hello, Abby. It's been a while."

"That's a contraction," Palmer says. "Hey, guys, Ziva said a contraction!"

Gibbs is still standing there silently, staring at Ziva as if she was going to disappear before his eyes. "Ziver," he says hoarsely.

Ziva chokes up now. "Gibbs," she says.

"Aw, hell," Gibbs blurts, and ducks out of view.

"Ziva," Ducky says. "You look well."

"Hello, Ducky," she starts. "It's nice to see you."

She says hello to more people, looks on in awe when McGee shows the pictures of Morgan and John and Delilah. She nearly curses Gibbs and Tim out when she hears of their Paraguayan Expedition, reassures Abby countless more times, says more contractions for Palmer's sake, allows Gibbs to see his granddaughter, watches as Gibbs chokes up for the second time when Tali reaches out, saying "Hi, G'anpa Gibbs," chokes up herself several times watching her family, especially when Ducky introduces himself and Tali squeals "quack, quack!" at him.

She leans over once and kisses Tony on the cheek and watches as he grins widely at her and wiggles his eyebrows. Ziva leans back then as Tony is interrogated by Gibbs and Abby, as Tony struggles to control his emotions when Abby tilts the computer to show him the Christmas card and pictures of him taped to her machines. Both of them choke up when Gibbs demands answers for "Baby," as Tali puts it. After a long moment of silence, it's Tony who answers first.

"Because, Gibbs," he says, "you're the most important person we know. You've been more of a father to us than either of ours ever were, sorry, Senior, and we needed a way to express that emotion. 'Sides, Baby is pretty grumpy sometimes, and we thought the name would fit that category too."

Gibbs growls at them, grunting some nonsense about "not worth that kid's name," "he's got two perfectly fine parents and they name him after me," until Tony finally tells him to shut up and accept it, and Gibbs does.

After another pause, Abby and Tim jump on Ziva and once again, start shaking answers out of her about Israel, and the fire, and Tali. When Ziva runs out of answers, Gibbs orders the two to stop and then he and Ducky begin talking to Ziva about Paris, and Tony and Tali, and when Tony found her.

Tony, for the most part, sits there and watches, a mega-watt grin on his face as he sees his friends, his family, standing in D.C. welcoming back his best friend and their kid. Tali yawns then, reminding him of how it's really past her bedtime. He begins to take her to bed, but realizes that she needs to be there for what he's going to do. He sets her on the ground, tells her stay there, you can say goodnight to Ima and Baby and Grandpa Gibbs soon. Tony fishes in his pocket for the small box he picked up on his errands last weekend, the one he's hid in Tali's room, and goes over the words he's already gone over a thousand times. "Ziva," he voices softly.

She turns around.

Tony gets down on one knee, opens the little box and starts speaking, ignoring the shout from Abby. "Ziva," he says. "I honest-to-God don't know where to begin, Zi. You're my very best friend, my Ninja Chick. You're going to be a fantastic mother to Tali and LJ, hell, you already are. I don't know what I would do without you and I never want to be without you again in my life. So, to reuse a cliché, Zi… will you make me the happiest man in the entire world and let me have the honor of marrying you?"

Ziva stands there, hands over her mouth, first tears since Tony's found her trailing down her cheeks. "Yes," she says. "Yes, Tony. I love you so much, hairy butt. Yes."

Tony stands up, crying himself, and hugs her, kisses her, slides the ring onto her hand. They stay hugging for a long moment, relaxing in each other. Then he leans down and picks up Tali, who's still standing there tired and confused, and kisses her head.

"Daddy?" she asks. "Crying?"

"No, Tali, this is good crying. Like when Ima told us about Baby. You remember? Good crying, sweetheart," he tells her.

She pats his face. "Yay, Daddy!"

A sharp "DiNozzo!" from the computer yanks him back to reality.

"Yes, boss!" he responds quickly, and then grins.

Gibbs stares Tony straight into the eye. "You hurt her ever at all, you get to answer to me. You hear, DiNozzo? You hurt her, you answer to me."

"I hear you loud and clear, Gibbs," he replies.

"OhmyGod ohmyGod ohmyGod _TONY!"_ Abby shouts at him. "You just proposed!"

"Damn straight, Abs," he grins. Then he pales at the whack on his shoulder from Ziva. "Oops. Sorry, Zi."

"Congrats, Tony. Delilah and I can't wait for you guys to come back," McGee says, and looks genuinely pleased.

Ducky and Palmer congratulate Tony and Ziva profusely and Jimmy promises to babysit Tali and LJ whenever they need it. The new guy, Torres, doesn't have much to say, but tells them that he'll always look out for their kids. Ellie is already thinking of food: "what's your favorite kind of cake?" and promises to get the baby a little OSU hat: "the _real_ OSU," she says to Tony, who immediately rises up in outrage.

Tali stirs in Tony's lap. "Daddy, night," she pleads.

"Okay, honey," he says. "Say goodnight."

"Night, Ima and Baby. Night, Unca Tim. Night, G'anpa Gibbs," Tali says. "Night!"

"Goodnight, Tali," a chorus of voices say.

He puts her to bed and gives her the stuffed bear Tim sent them and returns to the computer, where a flurry of activity is taking place in the lab.

"They caught a case," Ziva says to him. "Rock Creek Park, of course."

"Aw, crap. Sorry, Gibbs," Tony says.

"You take care of yourself and your family. Write me sometime, Anthony," Gibbs finishes, and strides quickly out of the lab.

"On it, Gibbs," Tony says quietly, and shuts the screen.

* * *

 **Yikes! I'm incredibly sorry the next chapter took so long and I hope y'all haven't given up on me. The next chapter of T** _ **he Beginning of Always**_ **should be up hopefully late Saturday. It's nearly finished, but my school has a huge football game that I'm gonna be going to. Thanks so much and have a great day/night!**


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